Father of friend arrested in Boston bombing case defends son

By Susan Candiotti and Steve Almasy, CNN

Updated 7:12 AM ET, Mon May 6, 2013

Photos: Suspects tied to Boston bombings23 photos

Suspects tied to Boston bombings – Dias Kadyrbayev, left, with Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsamaev in a picture taken from the social media site VK.com. Kadyrbayev is expected to plead guilty August 21 to charges in connection with removing a backpack and computer from Tsamaev's dorm room after the April 2013 bombing, according to a defense lawyer.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – Bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed during the shootout with police in Watertown, Massachusetts, on April 19, 2013. He is pictured here at the 2010 New England Golden Gloves.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured in a Boston suburb on April 19, 2013, after a manhunt that shut down the city. In July, he pleaded not guilty to killing four people and wounding more than 200.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – From left, Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev went with Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to Times Square in this photo taken from the social media site VK.com. A federal grand jury charged Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev with obstructing justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice relating to the removal of a backpack from Tsarnaev's dorm room after the bombings. Tazhayakov was convicted of conspiracy and obstruction charges in July 2014. He faces up to 25 years in prison at his sentencing in October. He has filed an appeal.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – Robel Phillipos, a U.S. citizen, was also arrested on May 1, 2013. He was charged with lying to federal agents about the bombing, according to court papers.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – Phillipos, Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev are accused of removing items from Tsarnaev's dorm room after the bombings on April 15, 2013. The items they took included a backpack containing fireworks that had been "opened and emptied of powder," according to the affidavit.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – The FBI released photos and video on April 18, 2013, of two men identified as Suspect 1 and Suspect 2 in the deadly bombings at the Boston Marathon. They were later identified as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and his brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – Boston Police released surveillance images of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev at a convenience store on April 19, 2013.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – The FBI tweeted this photo on April 19, 2013, and urged Watertown residents to stay indoors as they searched for the second suspect.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – The FBI released photos and video on April 18, 2013, of two men it called suspects in the deadly bombings and pleaded for public help in identifying them. The men were photographed walking together near the finish line.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – A man identified as Suspect 2 appeared in this photograph by bystander David Green, who took the photo after completing the Boston Marathon. Green submitted the photo to the FBI, he told Piers Morgan in an interview.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – The man identified as Suspect 2 appears in a tighter crop of David Green's photo.

Story highlights

He says Tazhayakov was in the "wrong place, (at the) wrong time, with (the) wrong people"

Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev are due back in court on May 14

Robel Phillipos faces a bail hearing Monday

The father of a friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev spoke in support of his son Sunday, saying he was simply in the "wrong place, (at the) wrong time, with (the) wrong people."

Amir Ismagulov is the father of Azamat Tazhayakov, one of three friends charged in connection with the case.

Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev are accused of obstruction of justice. They have already waived their right to bail.

Robel Phillipos, charged with lying to investigators, will appear in court Monday and will ask to be released on bond, his lawyers said in a court filing.

The FBI says that on April 18 the three friends went to Tsarnaev's college dorm room at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. Authorities believe two of the men -- Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev -- removed items from the room, including a laptop and a backpack loaded with fireworks.

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Tazhayakov's father, who lives in Kazakhstan, spoke to CNN in New York. He said he met with his son last week for about 40 minutes.

Both father and son believe in the U.S. justice system, Ismagulov said. The government will get to the bottom of what happened and let Tazhayakov go, said the father, speaking in Russian.

Tazhayakov is due back in court May 14. He was already in federal custody on immigration charges related to his student visa, having been arrested in the days after the bombings due to his friendship with Tsarnaev.

The Kazakhstan native is charged with obstruction of justice. If found guilty, he could face up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.

He is being represented by Arkady Bukh, an attorney based in New York.

Ismagulov said his son always admired and wanted to come to the United States. He was here to study engineering and work in the oil business, his father said.

Teenagers sometimes do stupid things, said Ismagulov, stressing that his son didn't know he was doing anything wrong.

He was in the "wrong place, (at the) wrong time, with (the) wrong people," he said.

Ismagulov said that he asked his son whether he had wanted to help Tsarnaev.

He apparently told his father no, saying that if they had wanted to help Tsarnaev, he and Kadyrbayev would have thrown out the bombing suspect's laptop and buried his backpack in the ground.

Investigators found the backpack, loaded with fireworks, in a landfill after a two-day search.

Tsarnaev's laptop was turned over by Kadyrbayev on April 19, the same day the FBI raided the apartment he shared with Tazhayakov, Kadyrbayev's attorney Robert Stahl said.

According to the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Tazhayakov is enrolled, but was suspended pending the outcome of the case.

Robel Phillipos

Lawyers for the Boston native say he was a "frightened and confused 19-year-old" when authorities questioned him several times in the days following the April 15 bombing, which killed three people and wounded more than 260. Police believe Tsarnaev and his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, set off the two bombs near the race's finish line.

Phillipos was under tremendous pressure when he was interrogated and didn't have an attorney at the time to help him, according to his lawyers, Derege Demissie and Susan Church.

In a request for bond filed in federal court, the attorneys say their client's future has been ruined by the arrest.

"He will suffer its enduring and devastating effect for the rest of his life. The only way he can salvage his future is by clearing his name," the documents say.

Phillipos is accused of lying to federal agents and faces up to eight years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

He attended high school with the younger Tsarnaev at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they both live.

According to the court document, Phillipos hadn't seen or talked to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for at least two months before the bombing. He was taking a semester off from UMass-Dartmouth and was only on campus the night of April 18 for a seminar.

The document says Phillipos' presence on campus that night is a case of "sheer coincidence and bad luck."

Phillipos was living with his mother, an Ethiopian who immigrated to the United States in the 1980s and is now employed as a social worker.

"Everyone knows Robel as being a compassionate, thoughtful and sociable person," his mother, Genet Bekele, said in an affidavit.

Previously, a friend described Phillipos as a good kid who took care of his mom.

According to an FBI affidavit, Kadyrbayev had seen pictures of the suspects released by the FBI on April 18 and texted Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to tell him "he looked like the suspect on television." Tsarnaev texted back "lol" and added, "come to my room and take whatever you want."'

Attorney Stahl also said his client "did not have anything to do" with the bombings and disputed that he tried to block the investigation.

Kadyrbayev, a Kazakh national, was taken into custody along with Tazhayakov on April 20 on suspicion that he had violated the terms of his student visa, Stahl said.

According to an interview his father gave in April, Kadyrbayev, 19, "missed a couple, or maybe several classes."

"I can say about my son that he finished school with excellent grades; he was good at math. He helped others. When he saw that help was needed, he always accommodated," Murat Kadyrbayev told Tengi News and STV channel in Kazakhstan.

Kadyrbayev is not currently enrolled at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.

He is charged with obstruction of justice and could face up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines if found guilty.

Kazakhstan's foreign ministry said it was offering consular services to both Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov. "We would like to emphasize that our citizens did not receive charges of involvement in the organization of the Boston Marathon bombings. They were charged with destroying evidence," the ministry said in a statement.